1. Field
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to a server apparatus, a printing system, an information processing method, and a program that can increase the security of a printed material left unattended without causing a user any trouble.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a result of the spread of mobile terminals, print data is now frequently being transmitted from a mobile terminal. A mobile terminal can obtain its positional information through the Global Positioning System (GPS) or the like. Although the GPS has still a problem with its accuracy, it is anticipated that, by using an assist function for improving the positional accuracy through a Wi-Fi® function or improving the indoor GPS infrastructure, the GPS will become capable of detecting the position with high accuracy even inside a building.
In the meantime, a pull printing system is being installed in an increasing number of offices to prevent printed materials from being left unattended. In the pull printing system, a client terminal first transmits print data to a print server on a network, and the print data is stored in the print server. Then, a printer on the network authenticates a user based on an operation by the user. When the user is successfully authenticated, the printer receives the stored print data and executes printing.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-203735 discusses the following technique. If a user carries out an operation to interrupt printing while the printing is being executed, the printing being executed is interrupted. The printing resumes if the user carries out another authentication operation when the printing is to resume.
While Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-203735 presumes a case in which printing is interrupted while being executed, it does not refer to a case in which a user waits for a job output while another job is being executed. In such a case, if the other job being executed is a job that takes time, the user has to spend time waiting at the printer. If the job is output while the user is away from the printer, a security issue arises. In other words, from a security standpoint, when the user moves away from the printer, the job output needs to be stopped before the job is output. In addition, the technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-203735 includes the need for the user to carry out an operation to interrupt printing, which consumes the user's time. Furthermore, a user operation is necessary also in the case where the user cancels a job when execution of another job takes much time.